The liver is the organ that gets rid of the poisons and toxins in your body. Imagine this system getting hurt. You will be poisoned from inside out. Our liver also has an amazing regenerative property. If you change your ways things can turn around.
For optimum liver health:
You should have plenty of water.Water helps in flushing out the toxins from your system.
Not having enough water makes your body dehydrated.The liver works best in hydrated status for removing the toxins from your body.
Avoid excessive
Fructose a type of sugar present in processed food is metabolized only in the liver. Excess calorie get converted into fat. This is a big cause of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
Medicines:
Acetaminophen present in Paracetamol is a commonly available OTC which is hepatotoxic in high doses in most people and even in low doses in genetically susceptible people.
Antidepressants: Some of them can alter liver functions. So check with your doctor for the right time to check your liver function if you are on these medicines.
Excessive Vitamin A gets stored in the liver and can damage your liver. This happens with supplements generally and not with natural dietary sources from fruits and veggies.
Avoid as far as possible :
Herbal supplements
Just going natural sounds great. But be careful. Most poisons are natural too!. Herbs like Comfrey. Kava Kava, concentrated catechins (the active ingredients in green tea)can damage your, liver too.
Alcohol: A known liver poison capable of poisoning every cell of your body even in low doses.
Soft drinks and processed food
Trans fat present in processed food.It can cause irreparable harm to your body.
MSG or monosodium glutamate present in certain packaged food is suspected to have a role in liver diseases.
Hepatitis:Used needles/Unsafe sex/tattoos can cause Hepatitis B, C, HIV.
All can damage the liver.
Smoking 2011 study found that smoking was the cause of nearly half of all liver cancers. Smoking is equivalent to barbecuing your life. Read all about it here.
Your lifestyle
Eating a very heavy meal during dinner is bad for many reasons. But since our bodies, repair work happens at night. Loading the liver with a high fat diet at night will just make it more overworked.
Too much stress.
Not exercising enough.
Obesity causes nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The liver cells are so laden with fat that they can’t do their normal functions. This kind of liver disease mimics that due to alcohol.
Healthcare checkup:
Not checking liver function regularly will be dangerous, if you have some or all the above risk factors.
Are you taking care of your liver?
Comment below to let me know.
Thanks for sharing. Useful blog post.
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I think I’m taking care of my liver, except for the occasional drink. But that I guess doesn’t play truant.
I drink plenty of water and working on reducing my sugar intake. These Bong genes I tell you! Sigh!????
Very useful article, Amrita. I do follow most of it, as you mentioned here. This needs to be shared.
Yikes, I don’t think I’ve done anything specifically to ever check my liver. However I do follow most of what you wrote with the exception of supplements. Great read, thanks!
Thank you for reading.
Great insights Amrita! I didn’t know that fructose is metabolized only in the liver and excess amounts get converted into fat! Now I will think once whenever I’ll have processed food!
Thanks Ana
I think I am! Although I’m the worst at drinking water. A while back my friend who works for a supplement company gave me a liver wash to take and I never did, perhaps I shall now!
Drinking water helps a lot
This post has great information about Liver and it’s care. Fatty liver is very common these days. Smoking and drinking are the main culprits for liver problems.
Thanks Deepa
Wow. You shared alot of good info.. i need to pay more attention to what im taking.
Thanks Marissa
I knew that eating too much vitamin A could do something to your skin tone. I just didn’t realize that it could attack your liver. Then again it might have caused jaundice which can cause a yellowing. I just didn’t realize that was the culprit.
Dr. tricks to avoid frequent visits to dr. 🙂 .. Very well captured post
This was really interesting to read. Can i ask, what is your take on these so called ‘Liver Cleanses’ that you can do? Not sure of the benefits…if any. Thanks
I am even less sure Sara .I am not a fan of quick fixes.I think healthy living reflects in better health overall.
Very useful article on liver health– as we age, we need to take care on health issues.
Thank you
I’ll keep this in mind. I do try to drink a lot of water. I probably eat more sugar than I should though. But I don’t smoke!
Thank you
Super informative article in detoxifying! I’ve actually been looking for supplements/cleanses so this came just in time.
Thank you
This was super informative…didn’t knew of kava kava that this could also impact liver cells ..shall try circulate it!!
Thank you
I’m sending this link to my mom!
We all know that what’s right or not, but at times reading it makes us rethink!
I know about the soft drink and yet I can’t let it go ????
Thank you
These are great tips. I find that I don’t drink enough water. I am going to have to do better.
Thank you
Very informative Amrita.. About the herbal supplements discovered they hurt the kidney as well.
I have been wondering lately, after taking some medication, if my liver is really working okay. I really like your post and it confirms me I am doing what I should do. Thanks!
Great post..I suffer from fatty liver..this post is surely going to help me..Thanks a lot for the guidelines
Staying hydrated can resolve so many of your issue. Excellent post on liver and how to keep it healthy.
Very informative and useful article on liver, thank you for sharing this information with us.